


Kiva and the Ropes

by Biodiversity (SoraSato)



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Original Culture, Original Mythology, WIP
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:15:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26211775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoraSato/pseuds/Biodiversity
Summary: On the outskirts of the known Thedas, there thrives a perfectly preserved indigenous culture based on a mysterious art of weaving live ropes that become symbiotic with their wearers. But as time progresses, huge horned giants appear on the borders of their territory and make contact with the Baadji people. What will bring this clash of civilizations?This is a massive WIP created back in 2018; I have no idea when or if I finish at all, but it contains an interesting idea of an original culture, hence, the posting.P.S. I'm fine with all kinds of comments ;)If you want to take ideas or anything, please ask first!
Relationships: Male Inquisitor/Original Female Character
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	Kiva and the Ropes

Kiva was walking down a wood-paved street in the Tal-Vashoth settlement, clutching her new batch of silky ropes, strings, and twine, and a suede pouch of salve vials. Far ahead, she spotted a commotion. It seemed that young soldiers were having fun in their notoriously violent way. Kiva sighed. She knew her highly sophisticated web of ropes and knots covering her body would shield her from the worst of those unruly giants, but all the same she was glad her face was covered with a vitaar-like design informing all Qunari that she was property of the local Arishok.

She was a beautiful svelte human with alabaster skin, full brown hair and sparkling blue eyes. She was from a unique tribe of Baadji who successfully escaped the attention of most other races and formations of Thedas, living peacefully in mountainous warm forests, and eventually developed a one-of-a-kind rope culture. The Baadji people wrote letters in rope knots, they could defend themselves by bonding several cords on their bodies in a particular way; they skillfully used ropes as weapons, they put spells on ropes, and even could correct flows of mana by tying twine in a certain fashion.

But one day, a group of renegade Tal-Vashoth discovered the lost tribe and quickly understood the practical advantage of this encounter. Of course, they were in no hurry to reveal their find to the rest of the world, and instead kept the discovery to themselves, trading with these strange people, carefully studying them and trying to get to know all their secrets. But the open-minded Baadji, albeit seeming like simpletons at the first glance, were no fools. They did not need to be knowledgeable in the ways of the outside world to be able to tell good things from bad ones. Hence, they gladly accepted new exotic materials for their beloved ropes and deliberately taught the horned giants some essentials of their rope culture but proved to be very resilient to the foreign influence.

And that was when the Arishok devised a so-called friendly exchange. He would take a girl from the Baadji and give one of his young warriors to the tribe. These emissaries, or rather hostages in reality, would study the foreign culture and maintain a proper diplomatic connection.

Kiva was well aware that the true goal was to study her and her abilities, to induce her to teach the giants the secrets of her tribe. She was not particularly disturbed by the Tal-Vashoth intentions and made use of her time away from her people to have new experiences.

Much of the foreign culture seemed too violent to her, or too illogical, but she refrained from making any early conclusions, judging that every behavior has a reason, an explanation, and just kept witnessing everything she saw in the giants' village.

By the time she drew closer to the place of commotion, it had ceased and the young horned soldiers dissipated, well content with themselves.

When she came closer still, Kiva's frown deepened. Someone was lying in the dirt, left alone like a used rag.

Instantly, she remembered that there were talks of a scuffle this morning, a Venatori inbreak or some such.

She couldn't care less about the Tal-Vashoth enemies but it seemed that this particular enemy was a human being, much like herself. And he was treated very badly.

She examined him. He was roughly tied with the same knots her people had taught the grey giants, and it saddened Kiva a bit. Covered in bruises, blood, vomit, dirt, and semen, his clothing was in tatters, his breathing ragged, his consciousness was barely present.

The young woman brushed his matted dirty blond hair from behind his ear to see the mark of a powerful blow that had knocked him out. She sighed again, scoping the amount of damage this man had endured before the giant soldiers grew tired of their play.

Kiva looked around. A few horned women were calmly talking a short way off, but the Baadji girl already knew by experience that these arrogant creatures were of no use. They saw her as dirt, a minor nuisance, and would not condescend to even talk to her.

Then she spotted her new four-legged friend wandering a few hundred feet behind her – a huge war stallion that the Arishok used to ride into battles. Now the gentle beast was just roaming the village in search of tasty grass or apples or whatever it could find and steal.

“Lobsang!” she called on him, and the stallion happily neighed and nodded his head.

Kiva searched her pouch and brought out a handful of small crab-apples and showed them to the horse.

Lobsang neighed more happily and approached her, moving his lips as if he was already anticipating the taste of the treat. He nodded at the girl, nibbled at her hand, and licked the snack from her palm in a matter of a split-second.

“Now, will you help me?” she asked him and patted on his back.

Lobsang nodded and lowered to his knees just beside the body on the ground. Kiva had never known any other horses except for those she met at the grey giants' village, so she could not tell if this particular horse was smarter or more stupid than the others of his breed, but deemed him to be rather smart and his company very enjoyable.

With an effort, she put the beaten man onto the horse's back and drove him to the Arishok's backyard, where she had insisted on building a bathhouse. The grey giants kept themselves clean enough but they made no such fuss about grooming as all Baadji did. The Tal-Vashoth even used to sneer that if the Baadji did not have their ropes their national religion would be grooming.

Kiva did not argue with that, and the Arishok seemed to acquire a taste for her grooming him every evening. When she used to brush his hair, he was becoming peaceful as a lamb and very tender with her, which was very unexpected and unlikely coming from the leader of such savage people.

Hence, the Arishok allowed her much more freedom than his fellow giants would deem acceptable for a slave – for this is how the majority of Tal-Vashosh was viewing her. But actually, this Arishok slave status had more advantages than drawbacks, for his authority was absolute, his servants' actions unquestionable, and his slaves and other property untouchable.

And Kiva used well this status to do as she please most of the time.

She unloaded the unconscious man inside the bathhouse and set to groom and care for him as best she could. First, she removed the dirty rags, then plunged his body into the basin filled with sun-warmed water, washed it and studied it for damage. She liked his body; it was beautifully muscled and well-proportioned. He had long limbs and broad shoulders, just like the best hunters of her tribe. Suddenly, she felt nostalgic for the people of her size.

She washed and anointed all his orifices: the eyes, the ears, the nostrils (fixed his broken nose), the lips; checked his teeth and gums, washed his mouth; fixed a few dislocations, tightly bandaged broken ribs, cleaned his navel, took great care of his swollen genitals and his damaged rectum; applied healing salves to all injured areas and set to study the available knots on his limbs. She was aware that removing bonding from the prisoner was not a good option, so she pondered on how to modify them discreetly to his advantage. Finally, she decided what to do. She pulled here and there, tugged at the ropes, slightly changed the pattern of the bondage in a way that only a highly trained eye would see the difference, and sat beside the man, well satisfied with her work.

Slowly, the knots on the right spots of his body started to make their effect. The puffiness and swelling receded, his true features came into view. Kiva waited another half-hour to see further mending before proceeding to washing his hair. She palpated his skull for signs of trauma and gently detangled the fair strands under the warm soapy water. Suddenly he moaned, painstakingly slowly coming to his senses from the half-conscious state he blissfully had dwelt in for the past hour.

“Shush,” she whispered. “No need to move. I'm taking care of you for the time being.”

She made another round of careful examination of his body, observed his injuries once more, shook her head in concern, and slightly moved a few knots.

“I cannot untie you,” she explained in a low whisper, “but if you tug here,” she showed him the right spot on the rope, “the whole thing will stop impeding your movement and will transform itself into an armor. Just don't be foolish and don't try to run in this state. Now you need time to heal.”

His vivid blue eyes were clear now, and he was studying her with fascination.

At last, he croaked in a raucous voice:

“Who are you, beautiful?”

The girl smiled.

“I'm Kiva, of Baadji people.”

“I'm Philip, a Free Marcher. You are bound too? Are you a prisoner like myself?”

She looked at her own ropes slithering and coiling on her body in sophisticated arabesques.

“Oh, that? No, that's not bondage… But I would not describe myself as guest here either… are you a… Vana-toree? An enemy of Tal-Vashoth?”

The man shook his head.

“Venatori? Maker, no. Quite the opposite. But seems that Tal-Vashoth here don't care for the difference.”

He paused and winced. Kiva understood that his pain was both physical and psychological.

So she said:

“Your body is a fair sight to behold. I enjoyed taking care of it. It will heal fast.”

He looked her in the eyes and said sincerely:

“Thank you, Kiva. I will never forget what you've done for me. I certainly didn't see it coming but I'll survive. Thanks to you. Just tell me, how can I repay you?”

She grinned.

“Heal well.”

“There you are!” the Arishok was looming above them, his shadow stretched across the floor in the rays of the setting sun.

With a keen eye, he cast a sharp glance at the bondage on the man, and seeing no difference from what he already knew, he said with a slight trace of disappointment in his voice:

“Come, I'm in the mood for some grooming of yours, girl. You can bring your toy with you. Maybe I will play with him as well…”

According to the Qunari laws, anything (or anyone) left lying discarded on the road became the property of whoever chose to pick it up, thus the half-dead prisoner became Kiva's possession, and since she belonged to the Arishok, he could "borrow" her goods.

Kiva shrugged her shoulders elegantly and carelessly.

“My toy is not ready yet for your games, Arishok, he will die if you touch him now. Give him a week and he will moan under you like the hottest Tal-Vashoth woman.”

The Arishok's eyes glinted, as he jerked Kiva to her feet and looked her in the face.

“The best feature of you, Baadji people, is that you are so very accommodating! You do not resist any fantasy whatsoever.”

Her returning gaze was serene.

“We never oppose to pleasure. We just make sure that the other party finds it enjoyable too.”

The Arishok had a mischievous laughter.

“And if the whole point of my pleasure is hurting someone? Now I want _you_ to moan under me, little thing. I've observed long enough your cute little teats so brazenly protruding among all these ropes, I bet your hole is soooo tight I wonder if I can squeeze there at all.”

Kiva grinned, unabashed.

“I've seen your rod, Arishok, it's almost a Baadji baby size. So, I've been rubbing in the arvari stretcher, just in case.”

The Tal-Vashoth leader made a triumphant noise.

“Oh, I'll never let you go home, you smart little minx! Come. Take your toy to my throne room, I want him to watch, I bet there'll be a lot to see!”

He grabbed both people under his arms and carried them to his favorite throne room, now empty of his subjects.

He habitually took his clothes off, seated himself on the throne, and gave the girl his hair comb.

But after a few strokes he interrupted her by pulling her to him and starting to suckle on her teat. After a few moments she shivered and made a long exhale, indicating relaxation and arousal.

The Arishok's caresses were surprisingly agile and masterful, he was gentle with her, her relatively small and delicate limbs drew out a very tender emotion out of this huge beast of a man.

“Look at these tiny little breasties,” he cooed, apparently addressing the prisoner, who lay at his feet. “These baby hands, these cute fingers… She's so tiny, man, it's unbelievable! And so beautiful! Like a gold fish…”

He kissed her on the mouth, covering it with his lips and probing it with his tongue. She sucked on his tongue, her breathing labored. She weaved her arms around his huge neck and started caressing his horns.

“Mmmmmm, baby, you're so sweet,” the Arishok murmured, coddling her thin frame. He took away the sheet of cloth covering her pubic area and rubbed her between the legs.

“My tiny little kitten…”

He parted her legs and pushed her hips onto his huge rod. It was indeed **very** big for the human girl, and she moaned and bit her lip.

“Yes, moan, my dear, it's music to my ears,” the horned giant groaned as he pushed himself further inside.

Suddenly he remembered about the prisoner.

“You there,” he ordered, “come lick my balls and her sweet little ass to comfort her… I can see you want it…”

“He's tied up,” reminded him Kiva, panting and breaking in sweat.

“Damn it!” the Arishok reached under the pillow on his throne, took out a knife, and motioned the prisoner to move closer.

He cut the ropes, freeing the man, and pointed him to take position behind the girl's back.

Kiva felt the man's fingers gripping her hips firmly but gently, and his tongue slithering between her ass-cheeks. She moaned with pleasure.

“That's my girl!” purred the Arishok looking into her face.

Her screams started coming out at regular intervals, building up in volume. The Arishok began grunting like a bull and soon came, splashing semen around.

“What a day,” murmured the prisoner under his breath, taking care not to get caught in the flood this time.

The horned giant watched wearily as the man lifted the girl up from his mellowing dick, hugged her, and lay down together with her on the carpeted floor.

The prisoner's own member was well erect but he just held the girl in his arms, providing her comfort.

Surprisingly, the Arishok appreciated the man's behavior. But he chose a grumpy tone to address the prisoner:

“You… dead meat… go put Kiva on my bed back there. You may keep her company until I return. And when I do, you make yourself scarce and go to her room, it's that closet on the left. And stay there. Now go!”

The man did not object. He took the girl to bed and covered her with a blanket.

But when he wanted to retreat to the closet, she squeezed his arm.

“Don't go yet…”

Obediently, the man lay down beside her and put his arms around her, soothingly caressing her.

She found his bruised lips and stroked gently his cheek with her fingertips.

Her kiss was as light as a butterfly's and as gentle as a butterfly's wings.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

The sense of intimacy grew between them. Neither could move more vigorously for the fear of hurting the other or self but it added to the overall tenderness.

The Arishok approached the bed.

“Damn it, dead meat, don't make me jealous and disappear from my sight!”

He took the man's place and started where his predecessor left – caressing the girl.

The horned giant was snoring for the second hour, and Kiva wriggled from under his arm and crept to the closet.

“Philip…” as the man looked out, she pulled him out of his hideaway. “You need to go. This situation bodes nothing good for you. They will make you a human rag, they'll fuck you to death…”

As she spoke, she jerked a few strands of twine out of her belt and started tying them around his torso.

“With this, nobody will be able to hurt you and you will succeed in all your endeavors…”

Philip took her by the elbow and looked her in the eye.

“Come with me. For I intend to return and kill them all.”

“No. I must stall the Arishok. Do not go to the shore, head to the forest, the bird-shaped mountain must always be on your right shoulder. People will meet you; you don't need to tell them anything – the knots on your body will tell them you need help. They will give you everything you need and guide you to a city of humans, you'll figure out what to do there. Now be gone!”

But the man did not hurry. He took a long look at her, as if trying to commit her features to memory and suddenly firmly said:

“No. You come with me. Or no game.”

She shook her head.

“You are in no shape to fight, if need be. Thus, you need a safe passage.”

“And you know this village by heart. Together, we stand a better chance.”

Kiva bit her lip.

“If I go, they might do something bad to my people, they won't go for that trouble for you alone.”

Philip sighed and looked at her again.

“And if their Arishok is dead?”

While she was looking at him, frowning, the massive silhouette of the giant appeared on the doorstep.

“My oh my,” he uttered in an even, slightly mocking voice. “Plotting, plotting, plotting… If I got a penny each time someone wanted to kill me I'd be the richest man of the whole Thedas.”

The Arishok stood calmly, watching the man's reaction. The prisoner did not seem impressed by the giant in front of him. The Arishok went on:

“What, you did not even take the knife I so amiably provided to you earlier? I'm offended. Now I will have to kill you by pushing your eyes into your brain, and the lovely Kiva will have to wash my fingers afterwards.”

Philip stood very still, waiting for the Arishok to finish his threats.

Then he said:

“I meant you no harm when I ventured onto your territory. In fact, I wanted to meet with you and offer my help with the rifts you surely have here. Instead, I was ambushed by your savages, knocked out cold, tied up, and beaten half to death…”

The Arishok giggled, not unnerved in the slightest:

“And you forgot to mention that your arse was fucked pretty thoroughly by my guys, you sweet thing.”

The man shrugged his shoulders, his blue-and-black face completely neutral:

“So what? And I crapped on them. We won't go into details on who was humiliated more, me or them. My point is…” he sighed. “You shouldn't have upset me. Under normal circumstances, I would just challenge you to a normal old-fashioned combat… But now I'm tired, sleepy, angry, pretty much banged up, as you've so rightly pointed out, so I'll just kill you instead.”

The Arishok laughed delightedly.

“A man with balls! That's what I like best! All righty. Let's find out who has bigger balls!”

Philip sighed.

“What is it with you and your balls, man?”

The Arishok started moving, but the man was faster still.

He jumped onto the giant's shoulders, firmly gripped his horns, and twisted them.

A loud crack signaled the breaking of the Arishok's vertebrae. The giant did not even have the time to scream as he fell dead on the floor.

Philip looked at the stumped girl and said apologetically:

“Sorry for that. The weight of their horns provides a weakness in the second and third vertebrae, which no amount of flesh can compensate… I'm the Inquisitor, and I recently became pretty good at this kind of thing. All I needed was free hands, and he presumptuously helped me with that. Now it would be nice if you waited for me here, for I need to pay visits to a few morons, and their deaths will not be as merciful as the Arishok's here… That is if you want me to return for you.”

He studied her face.

“I assume that you come from a much more peaceful culture, and I would not like to… hurt your feelings.”

Kiva sighed.

“If you promise to keep alive women and children…”

“Only those bastards, I promise.”

“Then I will take you to our elders. After all, we need to know what to do with those… rifts. I've heard there are two or three of them in the woods, and that strange creatures come out of them.”

Philip nodded.

“Then it's settled.”

The appropriated horses were resting after a whole day of travel, and the two people were preparing for sleep.

Kiva thoroughly groomed the man and shifted a few of his knots to better suit the needs of his body.

He watched her doing it in silence, then asked half-jokingly:

“Is it true what you said to the Arishok? That you rubbed my ass with some kind of stretcher?”

The girl nodded.

“Yes. I did not know that you were so good at killing, so I wanted to spare you further… damage…”

He nodded.

“Thank you.”

He studied her a bit longer, then asked prudently:

“You take great care of me. May I repay you by grooming you? Or is it what only your women do?”

Kiva smiled brightly.

“We do it to each other, you'll see. And I will be very happy if you help me.”

Philip approached her gingerly and asked:

“Where do I begin?”

She laughed.

“Take that sponge and wash my body with the milk from those husks. You'll need about six of them for my size.”

He took the big heavy fruit and, remembering how Kiva did it, twisted its stem. The husk opened just enough to let the man pour the milky liquid from it.

Philip took the sponge and turned to the girl.

“You will not take away these strings?” he asked, pausing.

She shook her head.

“No. They protect me.”

The man did not voice his doubts as to the ability of thin twine to seriously protect anyone and set to wash her. In a while he realized that there were no rope marks on the girl's skin. He found it odd and said so.

Kiva shrugged.

“The rope net would never harm its wearer. It is wise and benevolent. It lives on me and protects me, I take care of it and let it live by changing knots from time to time.”

Philip was perplexed.

“You are saying that this net is alive?!”

Kiva nodded.

“Of course. Everything is. The more sophisticated the net becomes the wiser it is. But we never let it grow too sophisticated or it can start modifying the behavior of its wearer.”

“Creepy.”

She shook her head.

“No. You use fire to cook your food knowing full well that under the right circumstances it could destroy your whole village. You just know qualities of this element and use them accordingly.”

Philip grinned.

“I enjoy talking to you, Kiva. Your views and attitudes are most refreshing.”

Before passing the sponge on her nipple, he hesitated.

“May I touch you there?”

The girl laughed.

“Yes, you may. Or you want to keep certain parts of my body covered with dust?”

Philip cleared his throat.

“You see… In our culture, people go around much more dressed than you are… Maybe because of a colder climate… So we have fewer opportunities to touch other people's skin, much less in such intimate areas…”

She seemed not to understand.

“Intimate?”

The man struggled with words.

“Private. Parts that no one is allowed to touch without the permission of the person. Because it produces a… galvanizing effect.”

The concept seemed alien to Kiva. She thought it over.

“So, you do not trust other people to touch you? Then how can you live with them?”

“We have respect for other people's private life.”

“Private? What is there to hide?”

The man mulled on it. Then said sadly:

“Kiva. I start to wish I never knew any other life than that with your people.”

Kiva shook her head.

“And you start to sound like an over-sophisticated rope net.”

The man was stunned by the notion and eagerly asked:

“Do you have people controlled by nets?”

The girl shrugged her shoulder in a vague way.

“I saw one when I was about 6 years old. He had left the village, and we watched him wandering the jungle… It scared me then. Then I understood that you couldn't just pass the responsibility for your life to the other, however well-meaning form of life it may be. To give a rope so much power is to weaken one's own will… Therefore, it's a constant balance of my will and the net's. That's why we frequently shift knots, we do not make any permanent constellations. That's the Rule. The net lives only because we deem so.”

The man frowned.

“So… you become dependent on these nets...?”

Kiva shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly.

“Aren't we dependent on the world we're living in, on air and water?”

Philip nodded and breathed:

“So true…”

He washed her for quite some time in silence, trying to concentrate on the task at hand.

But then he passed to washing her thighs and could not help but ask:

“So… If you groom each other and touch each other, doesn't it make you… want… something… more?”

Her gaze was mischievous and sparkly.

“You mean how often it ends in making pleasure to each other?”

“Something like that.”

“I'll wait with the answer until you wash me all over.”

She unlatched her sophisticated belt with a multitude of ropes and twine strands hanging from the sides and two sheets of cloth attached to it in front and the rear, and put it beside her on the ground.

A small triangle of curly hair was barely visible under the moonlight in the crease between her legs.

Philip's throat went dry.

He summoned up all his dedication to continue with his chore. The wet sponge inexorably neared the crease…

Then the man said in a croaky voice:

“I cannot concentrate. I keep recalling the Arishok… Did he do this to you often?”

Kiva shook her head.

“Only once, when you saw it. He wasn't that bad. He was the only man I knew. And he was very tender with me.”

Philip bit his lip, anger flashing in his eyes.

“So, he took your virginity in such a nasty way?”

The girl did not understand.

“What's that?”

The man's hand with the sponge rubbed against her nether lips in such a languorous way that Kiva gasped. She was enjoying the man's every touch and now she felt simply thawing in his hands.

But he interpreted her sharp intake otherwise.

“I'm terribly sorry, I did not want to hurt you!”

Kiva frowned.

“You didn't. So, what's virginity?”

“You know, a girl before she… damn, I feel so awkward… When her entry is covered…”

Kiva thought it over. Then her face brightened.

“Ah! I know what you speak of! After the girl had her first period, her mom gives her a mixture for rubbing into the girl's entry. And after a week or so the barrier just widens enough for anything to get through.”

Philip just sighed.

“That's… humane…”

He decided it would be tacky to explain the ways of the "civilized" nations to her, and instead paid exaggerated attention to her legs and feet, washed thoroughly her every toe and finally exhaled with relief.

Kiva grinned at him mischievously.

“Now the oils.”

“The oils?” his face betrayed dismay.

“For the orifices,” explained the girl, grinning mischievously from ear to ear.

The man laughed.

“Whatever you desire.”

Kiva lay in her makeshift nest mulling over the new experiences of the day. Philip groomed her very thoroughly, cleaned her orifices, rubbed the oils into her skin, combed her hair… The way he did it suggested that he could have been more conscious than he let on when she did the same for him at the Arishok's house… But he was so mangled up then… She shuddered at the memory… And now he was so gentle, so careful, so… affectionate… And then he boded her good night and went to sleep by the horses. The customs of these people were indeed very… convoluted…

The girl sprang to her feet and crept to his place. She could not hear the man's breath. So, she slipped into his nest and lay still, never touching him.

Silently, his arm lifted the blanket and covered her. Then he pulled her closer and pressed her against his body. She hugged him and pressed her nose against his chest.

For a long while they just laid together, none of them sleeping. Their minds tortured them with raw memories, flashes of images none would want to ever see again.

At last, Kiva said in a low voice:

“A friend of mine said once that I should ask people before helping them… Do you want me to make a knot for your memory? So that it does not torture you anymore?”

Philip slowly shook his head and answered barely audibly:

“No.”

After a long pause he elaborated:

“These memories are… connected to you. I want to remember how carefully you groomed me, and why you did it.”

Kiva sighed.

“That's just gratitude. I will remember that you thanked me for what I did.”

“But **_I_** will not. And it's inacceptable… Don't worry, I will not dwell on it more than it's necessary to make peace with my wounded pride.”

She found his lips but he avoided her face.

“I don't want to hurt you.”

The girl's face grew somber.

“You are not hurting me. You don't trust yourself or me?”

“Myself.”

Kiva sighed and shook her head.

“If ropes are not outside, they get inside…” she murmured.

Philip winced.

“I saw that… thing pushing into you, remember?... I would never…”

“Match the Arishok?” she giggled impishly. “No, you won't be able to. Not ever. I've told you already, I like your body, I really do. I like it when you touch me… I was too young when I was sent to the Tal-Vashoth village, so I've never actually been with a man of my kin… I like you. I want you to touch me…”

Swiftly, he covered her lips with his mouth.

“Stop it,” he moaned between kisses.

But he could not stop now. He kissed her, stroked her, licked her, squeezed her, sucked at her. At one point he parted her legs and almost entered but at the last moment moaned: "Maker forgive me! No!" and threw himself back on the blanket fighting furiously to calm down.

But Kiva followed him and mounted him with a deep throaty sigh of pleasure, and he had no choice but to move his hips in unison with hers.

They slept in each other's arms in a ravaged nest, while the first rosy rays of sun tickled their skin.

_At the Baadji people [TO WRITE]_

The Skyhold grew in front of them by the hour. It was magnificent and resplendent in the warm glow of the sun.

“It may be a bit cold up there,” warned her Philip, rummaging through his sack of belongings.

Kiva smiled and took a beautiful new rope braded from Qunari long white hair.

“Don't worry, I'll be fine,” she said while mastering a complex net out of the rope and putting it on her waist.

“Will that help?” the man asked, never hiding his doubts.

The girl smiled.

“I'll make one for you and you'll see it for yourself.”

While she was busy making another such net, the man asked her cautiously:

“Will you cover your breasts in Skyhold?”

Kiva frowned and looked at him, perplexed.

“Why should I?”

Philip licked his lips and said tentatively:

“We spoke of this before, we go clothed in these parts of the world… And there is a large garrison of soldiers stationed there, they are simple men who know nothing of other cultures and customs… So it will be hard to explain to them why you go around naked…”

Kiva's brows shot up.

“I'm not naked. See how many ropes I have on me?”

Philip sighed in exasperation and said:

“Kiva, dear… Would you be so kind as to respect our customs and not shock my men with your gorgeous looks? I'm sure your ropes will effectively keep the worst of their desires off of you, but there will be much tension, and it is bad for the morale of the troops…”

The girl seriously nodded.

“All right. If that's your custom, I'm more than willing to respect it.”

At this, she took a scarf and bonded it fancifully around her chest and neck.

“Now, is it all right like this?”

Philip laughed tiredly and rubbed his face.

“I will buy you a dress as soon as we enter the main gates.”

Kiva wrinkled her forehead.

“A dress? Again? Like those stifling… things you tried on me in that loud city?”

The man sighed deeply and said, resigned.

“Yes.”

The girl scratched her head and addressed her mount, the Arishok's war steed she refused to leave in the Seheron:

“Lobsang, and what would you suggest? Should I give another try at that awful sack?”

The horse snorted derisively.

The girl sighed.

“That's what I thought… Philip, I cannot imagine how you can wear these awful itchy things that hide your bodies. You have such a nice body, it's part of who you are and you are hiding it inside clothes! How can you speak to people if you do not see them?”

The man smiled at this strange logic and sighed.

“Kiva, dear, we are very different from your people. And I even doubt that you'll be able to stay long with us… Compared to us, you are so… pure, untainted, that I do not want to expose you to some things…”

The girl laughed and pointed to her head.

“The dirt comes from here, not from here,” she pointed to her heart. “Don't worry about me. I always have the option of leaving. There is always choice.”

Her new silk dress was not itchy like the previous one, but nonetheless it made her feel very uncomfortable. It was restraining her movements and it had seams that bit into her flesh, and all in all it was a foreign object. But all people around her were dressed even more so, and Kiva decided to make an effort for their sake.

She was surprised to see untidy people around and predictably blamed it on clothes.

“You need a good bathhouse,” she murmured as they passed a scratching soldier.

Philip nodded.

“That's in our to-do list.”

“But it's a necessity, not a luxury!”

He nodded.

“You'll have your own bathroom.”

“And what about all the rest?”

The Inquisitor sighed.

“All right. First thing in the morning I'll order to start works on the bathhouse.”

The girl grinned and nodded approvingly.

He introduced her to his team.

She studied them all carefully. Iron Bull got the most scrutinized along with Dorian.

“This one is well-groomed,” she said approvingly of the Tevinterian mage.

The latter laughed and responded:

“What a delightful, charming naiveté! Where did you get this wild flower, dear Inquisitor?”

Philip looked at him calmly and answered:

“She saved my life. She is from a unique, one-of-a-kind culture unknown to us. She is a very rare flower indeed.”

The mage perked up.

“Then may I be the first to study her? For Solas always takes too long.”

Philip's icy eyes flashed.

“She's not an object and she can speak for herself. And if you, spoilt brat, so much as breathe the wrong way around her, I'll send you back to your dear old dad to sort your differences out at long last.”

Dorian frowned and grumbled:

“You do not have such power, Herald of Andraste!”

Kiva listened to them bicker, studied the mage a bit more, and made in passing a little knot on Dorian's festoon.

Iron Bull saw it but said nothing. The others did not see anything.

In a while, when they were deep in tavern talks, the Qunari approached Kiva and sat beside her. For a while, he did the same as she – just watched people eating, laughing, and drinking.

Then he asked in an easy nonchalant manner:

“Does it mean something, that knot on the Vint's clothing?”

After working it out who that "Vint" was, Kiva nodded.

“The man had a trauma carried by a female in his family, a few generations back. That's why he may dislike women and seek men. I just fixed it, so that he becomes himself and not a bearer of someone else's ancient history.”

The Qunari wrinkled his forehead in surprise.

“Just like that? With a knot?”

She shrugged.

“Not just any knot.”

“But… aren't there some people who are just born like that? Even animals sometimes do it with their own sex…”

The girl shrugged her shoulders.

“They do it for a different reason – for domination, territory, and assertion of one's supremacy…” she cast him a cold stare. “Like your Tal-Vashoth do. As to people… They do not forget so easily their family ties as animals do… See, each animal has a distinct personality, but they do not cling to it when they die. People do. People have access to the memory of their kind, of their family tree, of other… things… That's why they get confused, and that's why they sometimes need help.”

The Iron Bull shook his head.

“You start to sound like our strange guy… Cole… All right, let's assume that you are right, then how about free will? Why did you correct the mage without even asking him?”

Kiva stared at him quizzically.

“Free will? What a strange concept. Did you ever choose some different course of action to the one you deemed best based on your experience and gut feeling, or just out of a simple irrational ‘I want to’? Just for the sake of doing something out of this ‘free will’? ‘I want to do this, because I feel it right/ necessary/ good, but for the sake of free will I will do the opposite’?”

The Qunari pursed his lips.

“I've made a few stupid things in my time…” he drawled.

Kiva smiled.

“But didn't you think at the time that it was the best option based on your circumstances/ experience/ wishes? Then you acquired a new experience that showed you another way of getting around the problem. Right? So we may safely say that at any moment you are doing your best. You choose only one option out of many possibilities. And when you get more information, your choice changes. So where is this free will, if you are governed by the amount of information you can wield at any given moment? You always do your best, that's all. Speaking of Dorian, he is now on an exciting path of discovering who else he can be. And that ‘else’ is much bigger and brighter than his current cocoon opening him up for more different information.”

The Inquisitor met her outside the tavern. She was standing in the courtyard and staring at the full moon above them.

The man touched lightly her arm and asked her:

“What are you thinking about?”

She smiled vaguely and replied in a dreamy voice:

“What is a chance of these mountains taking exactly these shapes? What is a chance of foam in the soapy water drawing those precise swirls and shapes? It took exactly those winds over an exact amount of time to shape them, it took precise temperature and a hand's movement to draw those swirls… So, is there such thing as chance at all?”

Philip hugged her and put his chin over the top of her head.

“I know I didn't stand a chance of not falling in love with you.”

She smiled and sighed. And said nothing.


End file.
